18:07.319  S  178:.25.685 E

18/09/09  I’ve been quiet for a couple of very frustrating days.   We arrived in Suva and notified the authorities at 11AM Thursday morning.  The last part of the trip was punctuated by very heavy rain squalls sometimes reducing visibility to a few metres.  No amount of cajoling or pleading could make the officials come to see us in the quarantine anchorage.

It poured and poured for something like 30 hours.  We had no internet connection as the Sat Com just doesn’t work anywhere near land and although I could pick up a wi/fi network you can only access it via prepaid scratch cards.

Finally on Friday after a wait of 23 ½ hours they turned up, a group of five officials.  They cleared us in fairly quickly and left.  I then began what turned out to be a 3 ½ hour trek about town to complete our entry and pay various fees including FJD 106.00 for the boat they boarded us from.

SPINDRIFT  had to wait for a higher tide to get into the one Royal Suva Yacht Club berth available. In the bar I ran into Peter, who had skippered one of the Millennium Odyssey boats 10 years ago.  He has more or less settled here, has a family and is heavily involved with the Yacht Club.  Friday nights they have a pool contest which Steve and Demetri entered.  You pay FJF 5.00 to participate, and are rewarded a bottle of beer for each round you win, 6 bottles for winning the semi, and a full case for winning the final. Steve lasted a couple of rounds but Demetri won the lot, his winnings something like  34 bottles of beer.